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Are you Addicted? - Addiction Vs Habit

So if you weren't addicted to nicotine would it be easy for you to quit?

If you are like most, the answer is yes

Great, so first let's define addiction. The type of addiction we want to talk about right now is the physical addiction, not the mental. We'll deal with the mental aspects of addiction in a moment. For now, let's just address the physical aspects of addiction. Who tells us that cigarettes are addictive?

Tobacco Companies

Tobacco companies are certain that cigarettes are addictive, however we must share something with you: - thousands of people quit cigarettes every day, and not one of them experiences any kind of physical withdrawal symptoms that you would see in a normally addicting chemical like cocaine or heroin. Again, by definition, when we refer to addiction, what we're talking about is the physical malfunction that bodies go through when being deprived of a substance upon which they have become dependent. No-one's body malfunctions when they stop smoking cigarettes. In fact, think about it, how long can you go without a cigarette?

Do you sleep at night? How many hours? Do you smoke in your sleep? No, of course you don't do you? People who are truly addicted to a chemical like heroin or methamphetamines cannot sleep through the night, they have to get up to take a hit, just to go back to sleep! No one does that with cigarettes.

What about a movie? If you go to a really good movie, you can sit through the entire show without a cigarette, yet most people don't think they can go 2 hours without a cigarette, Doesn't this make you wonder how addictive cigarettes really are?

Exactly! Now how many crack addicts would say can go without their drugs for hours or days? How many heroin or meth addicts? For that matter, how many alcoholics? You see, even with just looking at your own life you have already demonstrated that cigarettes do not have the same addictive characteristics biologically that truly addictive drugs do have.

Now, we're not into conspiracy theories or anything, but think about it, who benefits most by us thinking that cigarettes are addictive? The cigarette manufacturers! Wouldn't the best sales pitch in the world for any consumable product be, "If you start using these by age 12, you will smoke them for the rest of your life." Makes you wonder about the future doesn't it?

In fact, when we talk to people who become non smokers, the most severe physical problems we've ever had people tell us about is grumpiness and headaches. Let's be honest about these so-called "symptoms." Are they not simply irritations instead? Irritation and malfunction are not the same things. They're not even in the same ballpark! These symptoms do not cause malfunction. They just cause discomfort… which is not a word used to describe the addictive withdrawals from any other truly addictive drug.

We don't know whether you have ever seen anyone on heroin but it's not a pretty sight. For example, if the average heroin addict hasn't had his regular fix, he will experience some terrible withdrawal symptoms such as sweats, shakes, heart palpitations, nausea, even hallucinations.

Now when was the last time you saw someone experience anything like that when they tried to quit cigarettes? They might get a little grumpy, or irritable but they don't experience any of the physical symptoms that someone on methamphetamines gets do they?

You've probably heard about people who contracted lung cancer from breathing in second hand smoke. Now the nicotine and all the chemicals were strong enough to kill them, but they weren't strong enough to addict them. For years people breathed in all that nicotine but it doesn't make them want to smoke.

So if it isn't a physical addiction, what is it? It's a habit. Now it might sound a little trite to say it's just a habit, but it's probably one of the most powerful habits that exist.

When you wake up in the morning and you have that first cigarette you are reinforcing the habit of smoking. Then 20 times during the course of the day (for an average smoker) you are reinforcing the habit of smoking. Every time the hand goes up to the mouth, say about 10 times with each cigarette, so that's about 200 times a day, you are reinforcing the habit. What else do you do 200 times a day? Nothing except blink and breath.

So we're looking at a very powerfully conditioned habit. And the only reason you are still doing it is because you are still doing it. And the only way to stop is to just stop. Cutting down doesn't work. That's like telling an alcoholic to cut down their drinking. They can do it for a while but it soon creeps back. So you have to decide to quit cigarettes once and for all.

Because it's just a habit then you can break it easily.

What we're doing is getting you to decide to quit smoking. When you now decide, then it becomes easy. The word decide literally means to kill off. It comes from the Greek, like suicide, genocide, homicide; decide means to kill off one option, so when you decide now to quit cigarettes then it becomes easy.

So, is the biological aspect of addiction still a concern for you, or would you be willing to believe for the sake of this process that you are indeed not biologically addicted but have a powerful habit?

Then you have things like the patches and gum. Would you believe that patches and gum provide a massive dose of nicotine, one day's supply of nicotine patches is equivalent in nicotine terms to several packs of cigarettes. If that's the case, and it is, how come anyone who uses the patches or gum, and is getting more nicotine in their blood stream then they've ever had in their life, continues to smoke cigarettes?

Why on earth would they still want a cigarette? That doesn't make any sense, that's like saying you've got someone who is a heroin addict who traditionally injects heroin in the right arm and you come along and inject him in the left arm. Now is he still going to need to inject himself in the right arm as well? Well of course not because he's getting it from somewhere else.

Now if you've got a patch on, you're getting more nicotine in your blood stream then you've ever had in your life at one time. Why on earth would you want a cigarette? It's because it's not nicotine addiction, if it were the patches would work. Physically they don't work, according to some of the research that's been done if you try to quit cigarettes just by using will power about 7% of people will stop, if you quit cigarettes using the gum about 10% of people will stop, an improvement but not much of one, if you quit smoking using patches then about 16% of people will stop, again an improvement but not much of one. If you look at those figures around the other way about 84 - 90% of people who try nicotine replacement therapy fail. Now that means it doesn't work.

Now, let's play a game, let's pretend that we are the world's most successful hypnotherapist group. We have a 100% success ratio…we don't, but it's fun to pretend… everyone we work with becomes a non smoker with only one session. Do you think you would notice a void in your life?

You most assuredly will. Well, it's possible that you won't, but very few people become non smokers and completely forget about cigarettes instantly, with no void what so ever. Let's take brushing your teeth - if you did that 200 times a day and suddenly stopped then you'd also notice a void and that's just the same with all our habits.

The funny thing is, when people experience the void in their life, they freak out and give false meaning to the void. They say, "Oh my Goodness! I'm noticing a void. That must mean I want a cigarette." No, it just means you noticed the void. Don't give it any more meaning than it deserves. In fact, if you do experience a void THAT MEANS quitting cigarettes with hypnosis is working! Think about it: If the hypnosis weren't working, what would you automatically be doing? Right, smoking, but because the hypnosis is working, your unconscious mind now is not reaching for the cigarette and your conscious mind is catching up and wondering what it's supposed to do.

Another thing that people experience is an increased desire to play with their hands, or they become fidgety. What's funny is that they link up false meaning to the fidgeting. They say, "I want to do something with my hands. That must mean I want a cigarette." No, it simply means that you want something to do with your hands. Don't give it any more meaning than it deserves.

In fact, if you find yourself getting fidgety, THAT MEANS quitting smoking with hypnosis is working! Think about it: You can probably get a cigarette out of the pack, lit, and in your mouth without even being consciously aware of it, can't you? Right, so when your unconscious mind no longer wants to smoke, and it stops doing it, you consciously catch up with it and wonder what you are supposed to do with your hands instead. You see, as human beings, we are nervous creatures, and wanting something to do with your hands is not an exclusive trait to smokers. Non smokers do it too! So if you notice a void or want something to do with your hands, embrace those desires, but don't give them false meanings. Simply appreciate how well the hypnosis is working, and find something else to do, okay?

So that means the problem with cigarettes is not the nicotine, the problem with cigarettes is the habit of smoking. Of waking up in the morning and having that first cigarette at the same time then approximately 20 times during the day having a cigarette at those times, with a cup of coffee, after a meal, driving a car, when the phone rings. All those things become linked together as a mechanism which causes one to trigger another - so it's just a habit that can be broken easily.